I Believe in Father Christmas Greg Lake

” I Believe in Father Christmas ” is by Greg Lake ( Gregory Stuart “Greg” Lake ), English singer, musician, songwriter and producer. The song was written and produced by Greg Lake and Peter Sinfield.
Greg played bass in the English progressive rock band King Crimson, which was formed in London in 1968. He was also a singer, bassist and producer for the 1970s English progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Peter Sinfield is an English poet, songwriter and producer. He is best known as a co-founding member and lyricist of the early King Crimson, their debut album ” In the Court of the Crimson King ” is considered by many to be one of the ( if not the ) most influential progressive rock albums of all time.
” I Believe in Father Christmas ” was released in November 1975 by record label Manticore ( the label was launched by launched by Emerson, Lake & Palmer which has been defunct since 1977 ) and taken from the sixth album by the group, Works Volume 2.
The song is not anti-religious as many people believe because it was misinterpreted as Greg was surprised by how successful the song had become. In an interview with Mojo magazine, Greg said of the song ” I find it appalling when people say it’s politically incorrect to talk about Christmas, you’ve got to talk about ‘The Holiday Season’. Christmas was a time of family warmth and love. There was a feeling of forgiveness, acceptance. And I do believe in Father Christmas “.
The instrumental riff that is heard between verses was taken from the ” Troika ” part of Sergei Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kijé Suite, which was written for the Soviet comedy film, Lieutenant Kijé, and based on the work of Yury Tynyanov. The film was directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer and first shown in 1934, Greg added the piece to the song after it was suggested by Keith Emerson.
” I Believe in Father Christmas ” was recorded by Greg in 1974 and released a year later. It failed to make the top of the UK Singles Chart due to Queen’s ” Bohemian Rhapsody “.
Greg has commented on being beaten to the UK Number One by Queen ” I got beaten by one of the greatest records ever made. I would’ve been pissed off if I’d been beaten by Cliff Richard “.
The song was a commercial success for Greg. In the United States, it reached number ninety-five on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1976 and spent three weeks on the chart there.
In the United Kingdom, ” I Believe in Father Christmas ” peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and spent a total of seven weeks on the chart there.